


Tonight, we are young maybe we could find new ways to fall apart

by Joey_De



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Affairs, Alcohol, Cheating, Cigarettes, Drug Use, Eating Disorders, Excessive Drinking, F/F, F/M, Pre-Queen's Gambit (Arrow TV 2012), everybody's messed up, excessive partying
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:36:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26032780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joey_De/pseuds/Joey_De
Summary: A collection of pre-Gambit one-shots... for now... focusing on the friendship between Oliver & Sara and leading up to their affair. But there will also be plenty of scene focusing on Oliver, Tommy and the Lance sisters and the characters we know were parts of their lives pre-Gambit.
Relationships: Laurel Lance & Sara Lance, Laurel Lance & Sara Lance & Tommy Merlyn & Oliver Queen, Laurel Lance & Tommy Merlyn & Oliver Queen, Laurel Lance/Oliver Queen, Oliver Queen & Thea Queen, Sara Lance & Oliver Queen, Sara Lance & Oliver Queen & Tommy Merlyn, Sara Lance & Tommy Merlyn, Sara Lance/Oliver Queen, Tommy Merlyn & Oliver Queen, Tommy Merlyn & Thea Queen
Comments: 25
Kudos: 34





	1. Am I alone with the thoughts that I have? Am I the only one to doubt who I am?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fifteen-year-old turned around and spotted the woman that was the center of Ollie and Tommy’s attention right away and she had to agree with Ollie’s first reaction, damn indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been thinking about doing a pre-Gambit series for a while, but never got around to it. This will be a collection of one-shots and they do not follow a chronological order for now, I'l write and add them as the ideas come. I've been spending a lot of time thinking about the Laurel/Oliver/Sara triangle and how it came to be for my story 'What's wrong with us when happy hurts' and figured if I'm working everything out in detail I might as well write it down. Both stories can be read separately without any problem. 'Happy Hurts' might mention referring to events that I might eventually write down in detail here... but for now I'm just having some fun with Ollie, Tommy, Sara and Laurel in their younger years...

Sara

Sara was as usual, amused by Ollie and Tommy’s antics, they were such idiots. The three of them were hanging out at a coffee shop, the boys just goofing around when they suddenly stopped after Tommy hit Ollie on the arm and nodded in the direction of the entrance door at Sara’s back.

“Look at that…” Tommy commented.

Ollie just whistled lowly before muttering “damn”.

Sara just rolled her eyes. Boys would be boys, and Ollie and Tommy were such clichés. They started to talk about the woman’s attributes and when they still hadn’t let up after a couple of minutes Sara got intrigued and turned her head around to get a glimpse and maybe an idea why the mystery woman still held their attention yet, neither even made a move to hit on her… they usually either already had gone to hit on her or lost interest in her already. Yet, neither had happened, so it was understandable that she was curious why and what was different this time and with this woman. Maybe she’d figure out what it was about the woman that drew and kept their attention and how to use that newfound knowledge to make them see her differently and as more than just their little “Tweety Bird”.

The fifteen-year-old turned around and spotted the woman that was the center of Ollie and Tommy’s attention right away and she had to agree with Ollie’s first reaction, damn indeed. She was gorgeous. Her eyes followed the stunning woman’s every move while listening to everything her two male best friends were saying about her and her body, and she had to agree with everything they said.

God, she’d love to brush her fingers through that shiny black hair that looked silky soft, just like Sara would bet her skin would be. The boys then slightly changed their conversation moving on to the things they would love to do to the dark-haired beauty and Sara could feel her heartbeat quicken and her breathing become shallower while her mind was busy providing her with the pictures the boys were painting with their words.

Sara’s mind went into overdrive once the woman left the coffee shop again. What was that? Why had she felt the way she did looking at the woman? It wasn’t the first time that she had noticed a beautiful woman, but it was the first time that she had felt this strongly while doing so… had it simply been because of what Ollie and Tommy had been saying? Or did this mean she liked girls?

The teenager looked back towards the space the goddess had vacated, feeling vulnerable, strangely exposed and confused about what had just happened. But then what were those feelings she’s been having towards Ollie lately? Feelings that were definitely different from the ones she was having towards Tommy… what… what was going on with her? Was there something wrong with her?

“Hello, earth to Tweety? You in there?… everything okay?” She was ripped from her confusing thoughts and feelings by Ollie’s impatient, confused and slightly worried voice.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?” her voice still sounded slightly out of breath to her own ears, but she hoped the undertone of sass she added to it would blanket it enough for the boys not to notice.

“You spaced for a moment, we’ve tried to get your attention for a couple of minutes now, this place is getting old, let's bounce.” Tommy snickered, already moving on to a different topic, wondering where they were off to next.

But Ollie, Ollie just stared at her strangely and he looked contemplative, which was rare for the heir of a billion dollar company.

“Can you finally take me driving? Pleeeeeaaasee! C’mon, Ollie you promised you would!” she put on her best pouty, puppy dog look and added the perfect pleading undertone to her voice, a distraction was usually the best route to take when it came to get Ollie to lose his train of thought… and it worked like a charm once again, just like she hoped it would.

“Seriously, Tweety? In the Aston during rush hour? How bout I take you this weekend? We can drive down to the abandoned highway and spend the day there. Plenty of car free space for you not to hit anything.” He and Tommy both snickered, grinning at each other.

“Fine, whatever.” She huffed and rolled her eyes at them, pretending to be insulted and annoyed, sulking while she was smirking inside patting her on the back congratulating her on a job well done and the perfect distraction she had provided plus she finally managed to get Ollie to commit to a day and time to teach her how to drive. A promise she had annoyed out of him a while ago.

“Aw, c’mon Tweety, don’t be like that. Learning how to drive during stop and go sucks, believe me. And it’s too late to drive to the old highway today. Your dad would kill us if we got you home after dinner once again. How about we get a gelato at Mario’s what d'you say? It’s your favorite.” Ollie was bartering and trying to bribe her into a better mood. He was a sucker for her pout and hated to see her unhappy. She might have occasionally used that to her advantage. He was looking at her with those gorgeous, expressive blue eyes of his and that charming, killer smile that always got him everything he wanted and then some… Mario’s did have the best ice cream in Starling and Ollie did finally promise to take her driving this weekend…

“Alright, but you’re paying and I want three scoops with whipped cream.” She insisted, as if she’d ever payed for a single item like ever whenever she was in the company of her boys. Tommy just rolled his eyes at them, snickering about the two blondes’ antics and bartering.

“Can we go now? We’ll get you whatever you want, Tweety, let’s just get out of here, it’s getting too crowded.”

The three of them got up after Tommy’s words, Ollie casually threw his arm over her shoulder, slightly holding her back and giving Tommy a head start towards the door.

He bent down far enough that he could whisper in her ear, without Tommy or anyone else overhearing his words.

“She was hot, wasn’t she?” he smirked knowingly and winked at her. Sara could feel her eyes widen in surprise and her cheeks turn pink. She felt flustered and so damn vulnerable and exposed again. She didn’t know what to do or say. Ollie drew her closer into his side and kissed her temple before her mind could go into overdrive again.

“There’s nothing wrong with noticing and appreciating a beautiful woman. Honestly, who wouldn’t? Relax, Sar-Bear. It’s all good. You’ll always be my Tweety Bird, no matter what.” He quietly added, squeezing her even tighter for a moment, smiling softly at her. Before dropping his arm with no warning, she was too stunned and her mind too slow to react and keep him from picking her up and throwing her onto his shoulder fireman style, shouting at Tommy to slow down already and wait for them, acting as if nothing had happened and he was simply annoying the crap out of her as he usually did.

She could feel that warm feeling in her chest again and the butterflies in her stomach were back with a vengeance because of Ollie’s words and actions and the almost full body contact she had with him right now… and yet, she couldn’t get the black-haired woman out of her mind and wouldn’t for weeks to come.

This had also been the day she had started to look at women when the boys did, and at one point a couple of weeks later even added her own thoughts and comments to theirs. Ollie just gave her a subtle nod, wearing that soft look and smile again before smirking and winking at her, while he tenderly and reassuringly squeezed her knee.

Tommy just lifted his eyebrow real quick and exchanging a glance with Ollie before agreeing with what she had said and simply including her in their conversations about girls from that moment on, even going so far as to ask her opinion.

Sara shyly smiled at the boys, Ollie throwing his arm over her shoulder again, drawing her close, while Tommy bent over the table to squeeze her shoulder. Letting her know that they’ve got her, and that they always would. She was still their Tweety Bird, after all. 

She had never been more grateful for her two best friends' open-mindedness and who-gives-a-shit attitude than in that moment.

She still didn’t know what it meant, still didn’t know how or why she was feeling the same way towards girls than boys and what those feelings for Ollie were. But it didn’t matter at that moment, all that mattered was that Ollie and Tommy didn’t care either way. They accepted her for who she was, and that meant everything to her.

Sara knew that there was no way that she’d tell her family about this. She probably could talk to her mom about it and would if she didn’t know that there was a huge possibility that mom would tell dad and then Laurel would know too and she wasn’t ready for that. She wasn’t ready to tell anyone about any of this because she didn’t know what this was. And she was scared, scared of how her dad and Laurel would react. But that was okay because Ollie and Tommy were cool with whatever this was and that was all that mattered and enough for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story title is from the song 'We are young' by fun.
> 
> The chapter title is from the song 'Freak' from Molly Sandén.
> 
> I really hope I did Sara justice here. Let me know what you think and if I got this wrong... 
> 
> I know it's a risky choice for the first chapter/story of this collection lol.
> 
> I'm a firm believer that Sara was already attracted to women before she met Nyssa and that hanging with Ollie and Tommy and their antics towards women helped her realize it. Just like I'm a firm believer that the boys were aware but couldn't care less.


	2. Truth and my lies right now are falling like the rain What's one more lie, to tell our unborn child?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He should be happy. Like he told his mom, he continued to be the luckiest guy on the planet… if only he had ever really believed that himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry... I guess. 
> 
> I feel like this has never gotten the focus in the show it would've deserved. So this is my version of what I might have liked to see...

Oliver

Oliver was sitting on the bed in his room, staring at the wall. He couldn’t believe… he still couldn’t believe what just happened… anything that had happened in the last couple of days, actually. But especially in the last hour… maybe… he wasn’t sure how much time had passed since he left his mom and went to his room to be alone.

God, this hurt.

Why did this hurt so much?

He should be happy. Like he told his mom, he continued to be the luckiest guy on the planet… if only he had ever really believed that himself.

He needed… what did he need?

He needed to get his shit together.

Maybe call Tommy and get shit-faced. Yeah, he should do that. Except he couldn’t move. He couldn’t get his body to cooperate. He couldn’t get himself to get up and do anything except stare at the wall.

This wasn’t supposed to hurt. Not like this.

He just told his mom he didn’t know what he would’ve done if Samantha would’ve had the baby. And that he wasn’t ready to be a dad, and he wasn’t but then why… why did it hurt so much if his mom was right and this was for the better?

He should be glad.

He couldn’t even imagine what or how he would’ve told Laurel. She would’ve killed him. She would’ve been so hurt. Part of him wanted to call his girlfriend, seek comfort in her arms, forget everything for a little while. But Laurel was at college and it didn’t seem fair, didn’t seem right to seek comfort in the woman who would be so hurt if she knew about his actions and the consequences those had brought.

He should just call Tommy… get some drinks, or drugs and party, maybe find some hottie to get lost in…

He didn’t want to be alone.

But he didn’t want to be in a crowd either.

He couldn’t tell Tommy… he wouldn’t understand… or would he? But what if he would tell Laurel?

Should he go back and look for his mom, have her comfort him? But she didn’t seem to… she told him it was for the better… so she probably wouldn’t understand why he was feeling this way.

He didn’t even understand why he was feeling this way.

He didn’t want a child. He wasn’t ready to be a father. Even less a father to a child he had with a woman he barely knew while he was in a relationship with another woman.

Then why was he feeling this way?

Why did it hurt so much?

“I swear OJ, I’ve been waiting for your ass for like an hour! Your explanation why you stood me up better be…” His thoughts were interrupted by the annoyed voice of no other but Sara Lance, but she abruptly stopped berating him when she got far enough into his room to see him slumped over in the chair.

“Ollie, what happened? Are you okay?” The change in Sara’s moods always had the possibility to give you whiplash, and she just went from annoyed to the point of getting pissed to very concerned and compassionate in less than five seconds flat. She was in front of him in the blink of an eye, one of her hands on his knee, the other on his cheek.

“What is it? Is there something I can do?” Her expressive, big blue eyes were seeking his out, looking at him with such worry and compassion.

“Sara…” He couldn’t say anything beside her name. And before he knew what happened, he had wrapped her into his arms, holding on to one of his closest friends for dear life, seeking comfort in her arms. The small eighteen-year-old returned his hug without a moment’s hesitation. Holding him close to her, providing him the comfort he had been seeking ever since Samantha’s phone call. He wasn’t sure how long they’ve stayed like this before he broke their embrace and cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t… thank you, Pretty Bird. Look, I can’t… I don’t want to talk about it.” He couldn’t tell her. Even though part of him wanted to. Part of him wondered what she would say if she knew the reason for his emotional state. His Pretty Bird had a heart of gold and so much compassion for just about everyone. Maybe she would understand. Maybe she would know why he was feeling the way he did. Maybe she could tell him what he needed to hear. Something that would make him feel better.

But he couldn’t burden her with this. 

Couldn’t ask her to keep something of this magnitude from her older sister. Couldn’t ask her to keep yet another one of his secrets, and this one was so much bigger than the rest. So, he chose not to tell her. What else could he do? 

“Okay. I’m always here to listen if you change your mind.” Sara gave him a small smile and rubbed his arm comfortingly.

“I know and appreciate that. Hey, is it okay if we change our plans and just hang out here? Maybe watch a movie or something?” He knew he had promised her to take her to the street fair today, but he didn’t feel up to it. Didn’t feel like seeing cheerful people… happy families with their kids… he could feel that feeling in his chest again, as if someone was squeezing his heart with a fist. He swallowed hard.

“Sure, what d'you wanna watch?” the small bundle of energy moved passed him and hopped onto his bed, scooting back until she hit the headboard.

“I don’t know… something funny? Maybe one of the American Pie’s?” he followed her suite and got on the bed with her, to discuss which movie to watch.

This was how he spent the rest of the day, hanging out with his girlfriend’s baby sister, one of his closest friends, watching comedies and letting himself get distracted by her sunny demeanor, and that gigantic smile and addictive laugh of hers. Just enjoying her company and how simple and uncomplicated hanging out with Sara was. He also basked in the little touches and the other physical contact she provided and the way she’d glance at him with a concerned look from time to time just to double her efforts to make him not only smile but laugh. Putting all of her energy into cheering him up. Without knowing the reason why he needed cheering up. 

She was one of the most amazing people he knew.

He was so grateful she showed up when she did and that she didn’t press the issue. This was one of the things he appreciated most about the youngest Lance. 

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and drew her close, until she was nestled into his side, he then kissed her temple in a show of appreciation and focused back on the movie. Enjoying her company and the comfort her body next to his provided.

Forgetting his troubles for the time being, agreeing that his mom was right.

It was better this way.

And he was sure in time he would even start to believe it himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The scene where Oliver learns that Samantha "lost" the baby was so emotional and showed in how much pain he was because of it. And Moira sort of tried to comfort him but given Oliver's reaction went about it completely wrong, not really understanding why he might not be relieved, or not only be relieved by the "fixed" problem. 
> 
> I also feel like it wasn't shown enough in Arrow Season 4 that part of why Oliver was agreeing to Samantha's conditions was because, she had shown him in the past that she was willing to keep him from their child with whatever means necessary. She had gone so far to make him believe the baby had died, because she didn't think he was fit to be in their son's life. Oliver had every reason to believe that she would do something like this again if she felt he didn't hold up his end of the agreement. 
> 
> Oliver hadn't just found out that he had a child he didn't know about, which would've been a huge shock in itself.
> 
> He learnt that the child he had been told was never even born, a child he had obviously mourned for in some shape or form given that scene in 2.20, was actually alive. Had been alive the whole time. He had thought he had lost his baby, wanted or not, it had a huge emotional impact on him. And then to find out 10 years later that it had all been a lie, the pain he had gone through had essentially been for nothing because it had been based on a lie... there was so much more potential for this storyline but that's just like pretty much any storyline in Arrow goes...
> 
> Let me know what you think.
> 
> Chapter title is from the song 'River' by Eminem.


	3. Honey, why are you calling me so late, girl, you make it hard to be faithful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver Jonas Queen was sure of one thing while sitting in a prison cell waiting for his parents and lawyer, and that was that he was seriously fucked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know I said these are one-shots and that's still the plan but this one kind of ties in with last chapter... hey it's their past in the end everything's connected.

Oliver had been looking forward to this weekend and even more this evening for at least two weeks. Laurel was finally home for a weekend again. She had been too busy the last couple of weeks and even told him not to come visit her because she had no time for a distraction, which he would surely be. So, he had done what his girlfriend had asked and not gone to visit her. Even though he had wanted to. A lot. Especially after… after Samantha’s phone call. He had wanted almost nothing more than to get in his car and drive to Laurel’s college and seek comfort in her arms.

Laurel had this presence, this way about her that always made him feel grounded. Everything she did came with a plan. Being with Laurel brought him a security he sometimes desperately needed and sought out. And he would have needed it the last couple of weeks.

But at the same time, he didn’t feel like he deserved it. He didn’t deserve the peace and security his girlfriend always brought him because if she knew, if she knew that he had gotten another woman pregnant, she would be devastated. And he didn’t want that. He didn’t want to hurt Laurel. Hurting Laurel was the last thing he ever wanted to do. She meant the world to him, and most of the time he didn’t understand why she stayed with him. Why she put up with his antics. Why she always took him back. No matter what he did. Laurel always ended up taking him back. She might break up with him for a time, but she always ended up coming back to him. And most of the time he wasn’t sure why. Sometimes he wondered what it would take for her to leave him for good. How far could he go until it was too far? Would Samantha be too far? If Laurel ever found out, would that be the thing that would make her leave him for good? He didn’t know, and he didn’t want to find out. Well, the biggest part of him didn’t want to find out. There was this small, morbid little part that wondered, wondered what would happen, if there really was anything he could do that she wouldn’t forgive him for. A small part of him that wanted to find out exactly how far was too far. But he usually pushed that little voice all the way back in his mind, trying to ignore it, and it worked… well, at least until he got drunk, or high, or both…

Oliver was just about to take Laurel’s shirt off when his cell phone rang. He was determined not to answer it. They had exactly two hours until Mr. Lance got off of work and Mrs. Lance was back from her book club. Laurel seemed to have read his mind, telling him to ignore it. He was just about to do that when the ringtone registered. The twenty-one-year-old cursed, told Laurel to hang on, took it out of his jeans pocket and checked the display, hoping against hope that it wasn’t who he thought it was. But there it was in bold letters: ‘Tweety Bird’ and a grinning picture of none other than his girlfriend’s baby sister. He entertained the thought of just ignoring her for a moment, but then remembered that she had been a constant in his daily routine every day since that afternoon she had found him in his room. He at least owed it to her to answer. He cursed again and answered annoyed: “What the fuck do you want? I’m kind of in the middle of something.” Expecting it to be the usual ‘I’m bored, come and entertain me’ call. His mood switched from horny and annoyed to concerned and pissed in the blink of an eye. “Where are you?... Stay there, I’m on my way.” He hung up, threw Laurel an apologetic look and told her: “I gotta go. A friend’s in a bit of trouble and needs a ride, sorry. Raincheck?” He didn’t even wait for a confused Laurel to answer him before picking up his jacket and rushing out the door. He got into his Aston Martin and sped away, all the while cursing.

Trying to fixate on the anger he felt about having his evening interrupted and not on the dread and panic he felt.

How the hell did Sara always manage to get herself in trouble? It was so typical of the blonde eighteen-year-old to get herself in sticky situations like this. Except this time seemed to take not only the fucking cake but the whole damn dinner buffet, including the appetizers.

How the hell did she end up on the side of the fucking Highway somewhere between Starling and fucking Central City at fucking eleven pm! And what fucking asshole would leave an eighteen-year-old at the side of the fucking road, no not just a road but a fucking highway! At night! While some psycho was around picking girls up on that route… What the hell had Sara been thinking?

She knew better than this. Her dad had warned her about the current dangers.

Oliver was cursing the whole way, breaking every speeding law that existed, being lucky not to get caught by the cops and making it to Sara in record time. She was sitting on the curb by an abandoned gas station.

Oliver jumped out of the car the moment it stopped. Rushing towards the distraught girl.

“Sara! Are you okay? Did he hurt you? What happened?” Oliver bent down in front of her, bombarding her with questions. Sara just looked up with glossy eyes and tear-stained cheeks, letting herself fall forward into his chest, sobbing.

“He was hot and charming and had a freaking 1965 Buick Skylark, Ollie. So when he asked if I wanted to go for a ride, I said yes. I thought he meant around the block not to fucking Gotham. As soon as I realized that he was heading out of the city I told him to turn around or let me out, but he would only laugh at me and tell me to relax, that we were just having some fun, like I wanted. So, I finally told him that I was going to call my cop father and that he would get arrested for kidnapping. He called me a fucking bitch, stopped the car in the middle of the Highway and actually pushed me out. In the middle of the road in fucking nowhere. He pushed me out of his car! And I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know who to call. Tommy’s still in Europe with his dad and my parents would’ve killed me. I’m sorry I ruined your night, Ollie. But I didn’t know who else to call. I know how much you’ve been looking forward to this weekend and spending time with Laurel and I ruined it. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fuck everything up for you.” Sara started to cry again at the end of her explanation.

Fucking asshole, he would love to go a couple of rounds with that guy. He drew his tiny friend back into his arms, trying to calm her down.

“Oh, Tweety… it’s okay. I’m glad you called. Instead of doing anything else stupid like hitchhiking in the middle of the night, while there’s a psycho around who dumps dead bodies at the side of the road.” He was still pissed. Mostly at the guy who treated her like this. But also at Sara for putting herself in a situation like this, she should’ve known better. Especially right now. Oliver knew for a fact that Quentin had warned both of his daughters about the psycho that was currently around between Starling and Central City. But he could yell at her later once she calmed down again. They had a couple of hours on the road in front of them.

The twenty-one-year-old could also easily see that this situation had really scared the crap out of the courageous eighteen-year-old.

They got into his car once Sara had calmed down and Oliver turned it around, driving back towards Starling. They were quiet for most of the way back until maybe half an hour outside of the city when Oliver decided that Sara had been calm long enough and that it was time that she knew exactly what he thought of the stunt she had pulled tonight. He spent the rest of the way yelling at her.

It was easier to be angry at his friend than letting her know how fucking scared he had been after her phone call. He couldn’t remember ever being as scared as he had been during the time she had called him hysterically crying until the moment he had seen her sitting on that curb.

It was so much easier to focus on the anger than on the thought that had been haunting him from the moment she had called.

The thought that he didn’t know what he would’ve done if something had happened to her. He didn’t know what he would do if he lost her.

Sara was one of his oldest and best friends. She was his Tweety Bird, his Pretty Bird. A ray of sunshine and a shoulder to lean on. She was his escape, the closest thing he ever came to being free was in her presence. Sara embodied freedom for him. She didn’t care what other people thought. She didn’t care what people told her she should do or who she should be. She was who she was, and she made no excuses for it. Sara was wild and free and everything he wished he could be. Being with Sara made him almost believe that he could be free too.

That he could do whatever he wanted to.

He needed her just as much as he needed Laurel.

Laurel was stability, security, she grounded him and made him believe that it would be okay, that the life his parents chose for him would be okay, wouldn’t be that bad, not if Laurel was there to share it with him. That he wouldn’t feel trapped working at Queen Consolidated, that all the social events he would still have to attend and the proper etiquette he would have to follow once he started working for his father would not suffocate him. That this path that was chosen for him would be something he would learn to live with, to love the way his father did.

He knew that he could do it, that he could stand it as long as Laurel was by his side. His beautiful, strong and perfect girlfriend.

Oliver stopped the car a couple of houses down the road from the Lances, like he always did when he picked Sara up from somewhere she shouldn’t have been. He had stopped yelling at her a couple of minutes ago and turned towards the quiet young woman in the passenger seat. Sara hadn’t said a single word from the moment he had started to yell at her, he only now realized.

“Sara…” he started when he noticed that she had her face turned away from him, leaning against the window. She didn’t move, but he could make out that her shoulders were slightly shaking. And realized that she was quietly crying. And it nearly broke his heart. This was his fault. He had made her cry again.

“Sara, Tweety… look at me. C’mon look at me. I’m sorry. I didn’t… I didn’t mean to make you cry. Tweety, look at me, please.” He took off his seat belt to turn all the way towards her and softly touched her shoulder. She flinched away at first, and he felt a stab in his heart. He moved his other hand to her knee. She finally turned around looking at him with those big, gorgeous blue eyes of hers, they were filled with tears that were overflowing and rolling down her freckle covered cheeks.

“Pretty Bird… I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you. Come here” he spoke softly but Sara still didn’t move, just kept on looking at him with those expressive eyes of hers that looked so hurt right now. Her bottom lip was quivering. He lifted his hands from her shoulder and knee, put them on her cheeks and wiped her tears away with his thumbs.

“I’m sorry, Ollie. I know I fucked up. I’m sorry I called you and ruined your evening. Please don’t be mad at me. I didn’t mean to, I won’t call next time I promise.” Sara’s voice was thick with tears.

“Shhh… stop crying, please. It’s okay. You’re okay, that’s all that matters. Of course you can call me. Always. I’m not mad. I’m… I was… You scared the shit out of me Sara. I was so scared that something would happen to you before I got to you. Or that he had hurt you.” He never meant to divulge that information, but there was no lying to those eyes. And he needed to make sure that she would call him next time she got in a sticky situation. Like she always had.

“I’m sorry, Ollie, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Sara was biting down on her bottom lip, glancing into her lap for a moment before looking back up at him.

His eyes darted from hers to her lips and back again. His hands were still on her cheeks, softly caressing her silky skin.

He wasn’t sure who moved first or what exactly happened or how, but the next thing he knew he was kissing her softly. And she was kissing him back. He could taste the salt of her tears on her lips. Before he knew it they had deepened the kiss and Sara was sitting in his lap, her arms wrapped around his neck, her legs around his hips. His hands were in her hair, on her shoulders, moving, always moving over her body. They broke apart to get some air and catch their breath and looked at each other again.

They sprung apart the moment they realized what they had been doing. What had just happened?

“I should… I need to get home… Thank you for picking me up again, it means a lot...” Sara stumbled over her words, practically falling out of his car in her haste to put some distance between them.

“Sure, no problem, anytime.” He honestly wasn’t sure what he had said while watching Sara scramble away and making sure that she got into the house okay, like he always did. Before speeding away out of the city towards Queen Manor. His thoughts being a mess and he still wasn’t sure what had just happened. But he could still feel Sara’s soft lips on his and her sweet taste in his mouth.

Fuck! He was so fucked! What the hell just happened? How could this have happened?

He was almost out of the city when he got stopped by some cops. He had been driving over the speed limit again. This time without realizing it. He tried to charm his way out of the situation but once the cop saw his license and the name on it all chances of getting away with a warning were gone. They made him get out of the car and breathe into a breathalyzer which let to him getting arrested for DUI. Because he had been drinking with Laurel and some of their friends at the Lance's and they’ve had a couple of glasses of wine too after everyone else had left. Oliver let them do what they wanted and called his mom to have her send their attorney.

This was the least of his problems.

He had kissed Sara tonight.

He had kissed Laurel’s younger sister.

He had kissed his Tweety Bird.

He had kissed his girlfriend’s younger sister.

And she had kissed him back.

And he had loved it.

He could still make out the ghost of her lips on his, her taste was still in his mouth and he had no trouble recalling the soft skin of her face and the feelings she had invoked in him.

Oliver Jonas Queen was sure of one thing while sitting in a prison cell waiting for his parents and lawyer, and that was that he was seriously fucked.

And it had absolutely nothing to do with his arrest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is my take on their first kiss.  
> Oliver had been struggling with Samantha's supposed miscarriage and Sara had been there for him while Laurel had been busy. And then Sara ended up scaring the shit out of Oliver and being scared herself... let me know what you think.
> 
> And yep, Ollie's DUI is Sara's fault.
> 
> Chapter title is from the song 'Lips of an Angel' by Hinder.


	4. Add a little sugar, be a little sweeter, gotta give and take, be a little proper, speak a little softer, gotta be a lady, they say

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver took the stickers he had been looking for and left the room with Mrs. Lance looking back at Laurel’s little sister sitting in her little rocking chair, smiling and waving at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is for the amazing, kind, motivating and just very sweet SazLance! 
> 
> You are a huge reason why I write as often and regularly as I do!
> 
> I hope you like it. I did my best trying to get into the head of a seven year old but I feel like I failed at it and it sucks! I'm so sorry if it does. And I might actually end up rewriting it at some point, should I ever actually figure out how a seven year old thinks.

Oliver

The seven and six-year-olds were sitting on the living room floor working on their projects when they suddenly heard a loud bang.

Oliver flinched and looked towards Laurel, who had jumped up from her place on the floor.

“Hey! What are the rules about slamming the doors, Sara?” Oliver sat up straight, like his mom always told him to at the sound of a booming voice.

“I didn’t slam it daddy, I opened it! It’s not my fault the wall is too close to the door!” He could hear a petulant little girl’s voice answer.

“I understand that you’re angry, baby, but that is no reason to try and break both the door and the wall. If you push the door hard enough to slam into the wall, it will leave marks on it.”

“But daddy… it’s not fair! The coach is a big meanie!” What he presumed was Sara’s voice took on a whiny note.

The voices got louder as they drew closer and Oliver could soon make out a tiny, little blond girl and a tall man.

“Well baby, you should have thought about the consequences of your actions before. Coach warned you what would happen, and you decided not to listen to him, baby. So, now you’re going to be sitting on the bench for the next two games.” her father explained to her.

“But, but daddy, it wasn’t my fault!” The tiny little blonde thing standing in the hallway to the living room stomped her little foot really hard, her hands were placed on her hips and her little pony tail was a mess that bounced around wildly.

“Well according to you, it never is…” Laurel piped up and rolled her eyes dramatically.

Sara had run from her place by her father to the living room before Oliver knew what had happened. And it only took another quick moment before she had jumped on her older sister’s back, pulling her hair.

“Sara, get off! Ow, that hurts! Daddy, get her off!” Laurel tried to pry the little girl off of herself with no success.

“It was not my fault, you weren’t there, you don’t know! Stop saying things like that!” Sara seemed really mad at Laurel, and Oliver watched the two of them with gigantic eyes. Maybe not having a brother or sister was a good thing after all. And it took him a moment to realize that Mrs. Lance had come in to the living room too and the two parents were trying to separate their daughters.

“Sara, baby, let go of your sister’s hair. NOW!” Mrs. Lance’s voice was suddenly very stern, and Oliver’s eyes went even bigger. He didn’t know it could sound like that. She had always been really nice, and he had never heard her get loud before.

“That’s it, baby, let go and now get down from her back. Good girl. Now… go up to your room and sit down and think about what you did today that might not have been that good and why you are spending some time alone in your room. Mommy or daddy will be up with a snack in a little bit. Okay?” Mrs. Lance got down on her knees, so she could look into the little girl’s eyes.

“But mommy, it’s not fair! It’s not my fault! I didn’t do anything!” the four-year-old insisted petulantly.

“Honeybuns, that might have been more convincing if we hadn’t just pried you off of your sister’s back or if you weren’t holding strands of Laurel’s hair in your hands. Now go to your room, honey.” Mrs. Lance was talking to her calmly but didn’t let up.

Oliver looked at the exchange a little confused. His mom and dad would’ve already let him run off to play again. Why didn’t Laurel’s parents let Sara just go and play too? Why did she have to go to her room to think about what she did? He wondered while watching the tiny little blonde menace stomp all the way up the stairs, muttering angrily under her breath.

“What did she do now, Quentin?” Mrs. Lance turned to her husband and looked at him expectantly.

“Well, let's just say she seemed to have forgotten which game they were playing. She body slammed one kid and tripped two others in order to get the soccer ball into the goal.” Mr. Detective Lance told her. And that confused Oliver. Sara was so tiny? How did she do that?

“Did she at least get it in?” Mrs. Lance wanted to know.

“Of course she did, she tripped the defense, and the goalie ended up stumbling over the defense’s leg in the process, giving Sara a clear shot. It wasn’t until after that the coach reached her and took her off the field, kicking and screaming.” Laurel’s dad explained.

“Well, at least she got determination. And you know, she is the youngest and by far smallest player on the team... the fact that she managed to take four players down all on her own, without losing the ball is pretty impressive.” Laurel’s mom seemed amused by and proud of her daughter’s actions.

“Dinah, do not encourage her. Her behavior is wrong. And she needs to learn that.” Mr. Detective Lance didn’t seem to agree with his wife.

“Which is the coach’s job in this situation. So, what are the consequences?”

“She's benched for the next two games.”

“That seems a bit harsh for a four-year-old.” Mrs. Lance looked thoughtful at her husband.

“Dinah, she body slammed one kid, playing soccer and tripped two more. She made four children cry, well make that six, two more cried because Sara's actions led to them losing the practice game and she rubbed it in their faces.” The Detective’s voice was very stern.

“Alright. Do you want to talk to her or should I? After her timeout? I give you time to decide while I prepare her snack, she'll be easier to handle once her blood sugar’s back up. Practice after preschool is a bad idea. The kids don’t get enough meals this way.”

Mrs. Lance ended up going up to talk to Sara and bring her a snack, while Mr. Detective Lance started to make dinner. Laurel’s dad cooked! His parents never cooked, Raisa did all the cooking. That was so cool. He was a police officer, and he cooked dinner! Laurel’s dad was awesome!

******************************************************************************

“It's not fair, Mr. Sparkles. I always get into trouble, Laulau never gets into trouble. This was her fault, she started it, but now I'm in trouble sitting here needing to think about what I did. I did nothing wrong. It's Laulau's fault she started it. Stupid, everyone's stupid. Mommy says I need to stay in my room until I apologize to Laulau for pulling her hair... that's not fair.” Sara complained to the colorful plush bird in her arms, pushing her little rocking chair really hard, almost stomping while pushing her feet on the floor.

“Why do you call the bird Mr. Sparkles? It's pink and sparkles. You should call it Mrs. Sparkles.” Oliver had watched her from the doorstep for a moment and wondered about her girly plushy’s strange name. It was pink, at least part of it. So, it was obviously a girl bird.

“No, silly, he's a bird. The boy birds are the pretty ones, everybody knows that. Plus, also he's a Lilac-breasted Roller that's how they all look. What are you doing in my room? I’m supposed to be here alone… thinking.” The little girl rolled her eyes at him and looked at him expectantly with slitted eyes.

“Laurel said that she had stickers in her room that would be perfect for our project. So, I’m looking for her room.” Oliver explained his presence in the little girl’s bedroom.

“This is Laulau’s room silly, we share. Don’t you have to share your room with your brother or sister?” Sara rolled her eyes at him again.

“I don’t have any brothers or sisters.” Oliver let her know. 

“Oh. Why not? Who do you play with?” Sara looked confused by the thought of not having another child in the house that she could play with.

“I don’t know. No one or sometimes Raisa if she has time and doesn’t have to work. But she has to work a lot. She cleans the house and washes our clothes and she cooks too. So, she’s really busy most of the time.” Oliver explained to the little blonde.

“Oh, I’m sorry. That must be sad. I’m always feeling sad when Laulau doesn’t want to play with me. Or when she’s in school and I’m here with just me and my plushies. I know where Laulau keeps her stickers. I show you, c’mon.” She got up from her little rocking chair, grabbed his hand and dragged him to the other side of the room and a little arts and crafts table.

“I’m Sara. What’s your name?” She looked at him expectantly with her big blue eyes still holding his hand.

“I’m Oliver.” He answered.

“Oliver, that’s a silly name.” she grinned at him impishly and he could see the freckles on her face, before letting go of his hand and pulling hard on the drawer in the table, revealing the stickers Laurel had mentioned.

“Oliver, honey, why don’t you go back down and help Laurel again, I think Sara needs to think a little more about her actions, unless you decided you were ready to apologize to your sister?” Mrs. Lance stood just inside the girls’ bedroom.

“He was just looking for Laulau’s stickers mommy, I just showed him where she keeps them.” Sara explained to her mom and ran back to her little chair, sitting on it again with her plush bird.

Oliver took the stickers he had been looking for and left the room with Mrs. Lance looking back at Laurel’s little sister sitting in her little rocking chair, smiling and waving at him.

“Bye, silly name, be back soon!” He turned back around and saw her grin at him impishly again, her nose was crinkling and her eyes sparkling mischievously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is how I think their first meeting could've gone... like I said, I might end up rewriting it or adding to it at some point but I've been writing and rewriting it for hours and I feel all I'm going to do at this point is make it worse... so here it is. 
> 
> And yes, I know Sara had a plush shark... she'll get it eventually. I promise. Mr. Sparkles does have his own part in all of that.
> 
> As always I'd be happy to know what you think...
> 
> Oh, I forgot: Chapter title is from the song 'My Way' by Ava Max.


	5. Boy, look at you looking at me we took too many shots that was such an epic fail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ollie was still holding her hand, dragging her with him and into his side. Wrapping his arm around her shoulder, as soon as she was leaning into him, pulling her even closer. They stumbled out of the club laughing towards the next street to try to get a taxi back to Ollie’s place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Made some changes to the chapter...
> 
> So, I tried something here... not really sure about it... lol... enjoy
> 
> Yep, I admit it. I'm seriously enjoying going wild in their younger years... there is so much freedom and room for interpretation and imagination given the lack of information or backstory the Arrow writers provided. 
> 
> So, yeah, this is my guilty pleasure and my fun alternative to heavy Happy Hurts.

Sara

Had someone told her while she was getting ready for what was supposed to be just another Saturday night out partying with Ollie and Tommy that the night would end the way it did, she would have called them crazy or way too high.

She had been avoiding Ollie for the last six weeks, ever since their amazing, mind-blowing kiss in his car. 

Fuck! 

She shouldn’t think like that. It had been wrong. So, very, very wrong. It should’ve never happened. 

Ollie was Laurel’s boyfriend.

And everyone knew it was Oliver and Laurel, always and forever. 

She had tried to push the memory of the kiss away and it had worked most of the time, as long as she wasn’t alone, but as soon as she was she remembered and agonized over it. And she was sure that Ollie had probably already forgotten all about it. Okay, maybe not forgotten. He seemed to have been avoiding her too, and not just been busy because of his arrest. She still couldn’t believe that he not only got arrested for DUI but that he has actually been charged. Ollie never got charged for shit, arrested occasionally, but then his parents would call their very expensive lawyer and throw money at the situation, as much as it took to make everything go away. So, this was new and strange. So, yeah, he’d probably been busy because of it, but he hadn’t been too busy to hang out with Laurel. Which meant not too busy to like, send her a text or something. This led her to the conclusion that he was avoiding her too.

Still, she was sure the kiss hadn’t thrown him like it had her. That it hadn’t affected him the way it had her. Bringing all those stupid feelings back that she used to have for him freshman year. And she cursed herself for it. Ollie was one of her best friends, her confidante, her fucking rock. This was messing everything up. She couldn’t afford to have something stupid like that kiss risk loosing him. She couldn’t lose him. She didn’t know what she would do if she lost him. She had missed him so very much the last six weeks but she had been scared, still was what seeing him would do to her. She remembered how hard it had been for her when Ollie and Laurel started dating. How much seeing Ollie had hurt. How much seeing Ollie with Laurel had ripped her heart to shreds every time she got a glimpse of them. How having to listen to Laurel gush and swoon over her boyfriend had made her want to scream or throw shit, just to get some kind of release for the pain she was feeling. So, she had started to throw up. Having to listen to Laurel and see the two of them together had made her feel sick already. So, throwing up wasn’t that big of a stretch to get some kind of release. But she was fine now, sort of, mostly. She didn’t want to feel like that again.

Fuck!

But she no longer could avoid him now. Tommy and even Laurel had wondered what was going on between her and Ollie, and Tommy had insisted that she come party with them tonight. And he did not accept no for an answer, not without a plausible explanation. So here she was.

The night had started out just like every other. The boys picked her up a block from her home as usual because her dad was not fond of her hanging out with ‘those two rich frat boys that only ever get you into trouble’. Even less so now after Ollie’s recent arrest and the charges against him. A DUI was serious enough for her dad to insist neither she nor Laurel would get in a car with either of the boys.

If only he knew that she was the one getting them in trouble just as often, if not more because they tended to take the fall for her, so she wouldn’t get in trouble.

She walked the short distance to the gas station, which was their usual meeting point, to find Tommy’s BMW already waiting in the parking lot. Ollie leaning against the passenger door, cigarette in hand, looking as forbidden as he was to her.

She drank in the image he presented and felt a familiar pang when she reminded herself that he was her sister’s boyfriend and that kiss had meant nothing. Laurel was the one he wanted, the one he loved, the one he chose. Just like everyone always did. Her big sister was the golden girl, her parents’ pride and joy, the perfect daughter, student, friend, future daughter-in-law… and she was the troublemaker, the disappointment. And just one of the guys… a “good time call”.

She was so screwed.

She should just turn around, leave before he saw her and come up with some lame excuse why she couldn’t make it. She couldn’t do this, this was torture.

But it was too late for that now.

It only took Ollie a minute to notice her, as usual and thankfully he acted as if nothing had happened and everything between them was the same as it had always been. Which was great. This is what she had wanted. To know that they were fine. That nothing had changed. Right? So why did it hurt? Him acting as if they hadn’t kissed?

A smirk spreading across his face while he pushed off the car.

“Tweety Bird! Nice outfit.” His smirk only grew when he used her childhood nickname. You’d think he and Tommy would’ve been a little more imaginative when they learnt about her pet canary back when they were kids.

“Oh, shut it, Sylvester.” Two could play that game. Ollie’s grin grew even bigger if possible, and his eyes sparkled with mischief. He stepped into her personal space to give her a friendly hug.

Fuck! She just wanted to melt into him and not let go. Why did he have to smell so damn good too? God, she was so screwed! Why, why did her feelings have to come back and smack her in the face like this? Why did he have to kiss her all those weeks ago?

“Tommy’s inside getting some booze.” He explained his best friend’s current absence while he let Sara take the cigarette from his fingers to take a drag before giving it back and removing the long, wide dress she was wearing over her actual outfit. Barely acknowledging the comment, still engrossed by the mess that was her thoughts and desperately trying to hide her feelings. And ensure that they wouldn’t show.

Her father had the night off, and there was no way he would’ve let her out of the house in her chosen outfit. She pulled the dress over her head and looked at Ollie again.

Noticing that he was watching her intently. She frowned for a moment. This was far from the first time he watched her change out of something “dad approved” into her actual clothes.

It was then, looking at him, she observed him staring at her with a single-minded focus.

His eyes traveled from her face down to her sneakers and then slowly up her bare legs over her short, flared skirt further up her black strapped shirt, stopping at her chest to read the provocative message on it “Life is short, have sex, be safe”, which made him raise a brow and smirk again and she just shrugged her shoulders giving him a naughty little smile in return, up over her boobs and back to her face.

Something was different in the way he was looking at her tonight. Maybe…

But Tommy’s sudden appearance broke the moment before Sara could start to analyze it and wonder whether it had something to do with their kiss.

“Hey blondie, ready to party?” Tommy said while coming over to hug her hello and holding out a bottle of whiskey for her.

“Aren’t I always Merlyn.” She took a swig from the offered bottle before handing it to Ollie in exchange for his cigarette. She so needed to get drunk tonight. There was no way she’d manage to get through it otherwise.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first thing Sara did once they entered the club was beeline to the bar. She needed alcohol, badly. The car ride had been hell, Ollie had decided to sit in the back with her. Goofing around, teasing her and just randomly touching her. God, this was so messed up. He was her best friend. Why did she have to feel this way about him? She had gotten past this years ago. Those feelings shouldn’t be back. They couldn’t be back. They only led to pain.

She told the bartender what she wanted, and it didn’t take long before she had a shot glass in front of her. She downed the shot in record time and signaled the bartender to fill it up again.

Being this close to Ollie was driving her crazy. She couldn’t get their kiss out of her mind.

Fuck!

Ollie was Laurel’s. Had been for years. Laurel had won once again. Because Laurel always gets what she wants, and she was left with whatever her older sister didn’t want.

Fuck!

She loved Laurel; she was her big sis, the person she looked up to and wanted to be like when they were kids. The person she’d sneak into bed with when she was scared, the person who had helped her with her homework and showed her the best methods to study. Her big sis who had her back and defended her when she got into trouble.

God, she hated Laurel. Her perfect older sister who could do no wrong. Always dressed to the T, perfect student, ‘oh you are Laurel Lance’s younger sister? That always came with an unspoken yet implied why can’t you be more like her or how is it possible that the two of you are related?’, perfect daughter, perfect friend, perfect future daughter-in-law, perfect at everything… who got whatever she wanted, no matter what or who it was.

She was so messed up.

It didn’t take the boys long to walk towards the bar themselves, and she cursed. She told the bartender to refill again and make it a double this time. The glass was empty and refilled before the boys spotted her. 

What the fuck was she doing here? 

She thought about getting up and sneaking out, making up some lame excuse later on… but it was already too late. Tommy had spotted her and was dragging a reluctant Ollie with him. Sara emptied her shot glass again and put on her best smile turning towards them, pretending that she hadn’t tried to get rid of them on purpose and that everything was fucking fine and that seeing Ollie did not give her fucking butterflies in her stomach and that she wasn’t longing for his touch and to feel his lips on hers again. And almost dying inside because she knew that it could never happen again. That she could never have him.

Fuck!

She was so fucked! How was she supposed to get through the night? She needed to get herself a hot distraction and fast.

Only her plan wouldn’t work at all, because Ollie refused to let her leave him alone at the bar. Even less after some hottie had caught Tommy’s attention and he left the two of them all alone… working on getting pretty damn drunk. Ollie insisted that a good friend would not leave another friend all alone after they had decided to hang out together. That it had been ages since the two of them last hung out together and she wasn’t going to just dump him like Tommy did, was she? Giving her a puppy dog look and she could feel herself get lost in those amazing blue eyes of his. Who could refuse him anything if he looked at them like that?

Shit!

She was so screwed!

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sara wasn’t sure how she ended up in her current situation. Not that she was complaining. Far from it. She was too damn close to reaching fucking Nirvana to complain about the fact that she was sitting on the sink of the club’s bathroom with her legs spread, her panties discarded in her companion’s back pocket, the straps of her top had been slipped off her shoulders a while back, her top now bunching at her midsection and her bra was hanging loosely on her forearms. 

There was a split second that she wondered how she came to be in this position, that she shouldn’t be in this position.

This shouldn’t be happening. 

But those thoughts disappeared almost instantly, leaving her mind completely blank except for the feelings the hand between her legs and the mouth devouring hers provoked. Fuck! She pulled her lips from his to catch her breath, which turned into a moan when his other hand pinched her nipple. The hand between her legs was working her like a fine-tuned instrument. 

Sara Lance didn’t know how she ended up in this situation. Getting fucked on the sink in the club’s bathroom by no other but one of her best friends.

Sara Lance wouldn’t be able to recall how she had ended up fucking her sister’s boyfriend in the handicapped bathroom of one of her favorite clubs.

It wasn’t until after they were done giving in to their desires that they noticed the banging against the bathroom door and the angry yelling accompanying it. They laughed while trying to make themselves look presentable and not as if they’ve just screwed. Not very successfully given their drunken state and their hair and clothes messed up conditions. Neither one of them actually cared. It wasn’t either of their first-time having sex in a club’s bathroom. They walked out of it as if it was the most normal thing in the world and absolutely nothing had happened.

The security guard looked at them in a mixture of annoyance and anger, but Ollie just slapped him on the shoulder, handing him a couple of dollar bills. Smirking while taking her hand and dragging her towards the club’s exit.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ollie was still holding her hand, dragging her with him and into his side. Wrapping his arm around her shoulder as soon as she was leaning into him, pulling her even closer. They stumbled out of the club laughing towards the next street to try to get a taxi back to Ollie’s place.

They screwed again on the backseat of the cab, Ollie just telling the driver to mind his own business when he turned around, slapping a couple of hundred-dollar bills into his hand, before returning all of his focus back on her.

They got out of the taxi, laughing once they reached the Queen’s. The couple proceeded to sneak into the house, well, as well as two severely drunk people could sneak, still holding hands and stealing the occasional kiss. They clumsily stumbled up the enormous staircase and were back in each other’s arms the moment the door to Ollie’s room was closed and locked. Her back pressed up against it was partially responsible for that.

They spent the rest of the night giving in to passion until they both finally passed out in his bed, from exhaustion and the alcohol.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was around that time that H&M had an anti AIDS campaign and the shirt Sara's wearing is one of the shirts they printed and sold for it. I feel like it's something she would have supported even as a teen plus, the writing on the shirts were just the right kind of provocative while the cut was not.
> 
> Okay, so this is the closest thing to smut I've ever written... still not sure about it but whatever.
> 
> So this is how I think they've ended up having sex for the first time, night whatever... lol.
> 
> As always happy to know what you think, good or bad.
> 
> Title is from the songs 'High by the Beach' by Lana del Rey and 'TGIF' by Katy Perry.


	6. There's a pounding my head It's a blacked out blur I'm screwed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He tried to recall last night and what had happened. How the other body came to be in his bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ollie will be Ollie...? I'm sorry?
> 
> Also:
> 
> Okay, so the Arrow wiki page just confused me. I could've sworn Laurel and Oliver had been in a relationship for four years by the time Oliver took Sara on the Gambit but the wiki page says they started dating in 2005 which would make it only two years... I'll run with the four I thought because otherwise a lot of the stuff I've already written and my HCs won't work anymore. 
> 
> Just to let you all know.

Oliver

Oliver was slowly coming to and one of the first things he noticed, after his splitting headache which was routine by now, was the warm body pressed up against his. He kept his eyes closed a little longer and started to smile, kissing the naked shoulder in front of him while his hands slowly moved along the soft curves that were so nicely pressed up to his body.

He tried to recall last night and what had happened. How the other body came to be in his bed.

He remembered he and Tommy meeting up with Sara and the three of them hitting one of their favorite clubs and drinking, a lot of drinking. Nothing unusual there.

He could recall his Pretty Bird wearing a very short skirt, that gave an excellent view of those perfect tights of hers, and that shirt… that shirt. He remembered small touches, mostly initiated by him, small touches that were a little too intimate to be innocent and then… and then…

Oliver drew his hands from the body in front of him as if she had burned him, scooting away and bolting into an upward position.

Fuck!

He looked at the sleeping girl in his bed.

Fuck!

He was so unbelievably fucked!

This was bad, this was so terrible. This was wrong. This should’ve never happened. How the fuck had he ended up spending last night screwing Sara, screwing his girlfriend’s baby sister, one of his best friends? Fuck!

And yet, and yet, last night had been fucking amazing, mind-blowing. That had been by far the best sex he’s ever had. It had almost been as if Sara instinctively knew exactly just what he liked. And she had no issues letting him know what she liked. And fuck! He always knew that she was wild and imagined her to be quite the ride, but he never would’ve imagined… fuck! She was amazing.

Fuck!

He needed to focus. He needed to get his still muddled brain to focus on the situation and not on Sara’s newly discovered talents. Jesus… he needed to get his head out of the gutter and maybe he should stop staring at her mostly exposed, naked body. It might actually help him focus on the problem. Well, the real problem.

Sara was in his bed naked.

Because he had had sex with Sara. Multiple times, in several different places and positions… God, she was so damn naughty.

Oliver cursed himself and the singlemindedness his still alcohol muddled mind had right now.

He needed to put some distance between them. That should help him clear his mind, he hoped. He got up off the bed and put on a pair of sweatpants. He then checked to make sure that they locked his bedroom door the previous night. The last thing he needed right now was for Speedy to just walk in as she usually did, or his mom for that matter.

Shit!

He walked into his bathroom and glanced back at Sara for a moment, a soft smile unconsciously appearing on his face, before he closed the door and decided to take a shower, to hopefully clear his head. That didn’t work. All he could think about were the things they did last night as his memory slowly returned to him… and if those didn’t have a very obvious effect on him. He hit his head on the shower wall a couple of times before taking care of the problem at hand. Letting the memories wash over him just like the water of the shower did. That led to his shower not turning out the way he had planned. At all.

He stared at his reflection in the mirror once he had gotten out of the shower. Staring at his eyes and not sure what the emotions were that he saw in them. All he knew was that he had never felt like this before. He felt awful and amazing at the same time. What was wrong with him? He had just cheated on his girlfriend with her baby sister. He had just had sex with a woman that had been one of his best friends for thirteen years. 

It took him a moment to notice the damage that Sara had done to his body. It was a good thing Laurel wasn’t in town this weekend, that she didn’t plan to come by this week.

This was such a fucking mess and he couldn’t understand how he was feeling. What he was feeling. Why he was feeling the way he was. Thinking about Laurel made him feel horrible. Yet, thinking about Sara gave him a warm feeling, mixed in with dread because he still didn’t know what he should do, what he was supposed to do now. How he was supposed to get out of this situation. How was Sara going to react? 

Fuck! 

Sara! 

He needed to… to do what? Talk to her? And say what? Hey it was fun but you know it can’t happen again which is a shame because you were amazing? Yeah, no, that wasn’t going to work. They could just act like it never happened? That might be the smartest course of action. But could he? Could he pretend he didn’t know what it felt like to kiss her, touch her, feel her all around him, be one with her? Fuck!

He was so unbelievably screwed.

He shouldn’t think like that. He shouldn’t feel like that.

He was with Laurel. He loved Laurel. Laurel was his girlfriend, his future.

Sara was his friend. His partner in crime. His Pretty Bird. She was family… but then what were those feelings, those warm feelings that he couldn’t shake whenever his thoughts strayed to the naked blonde in his bed? 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oliver cursed himself when he came home the same evening and his mother confronted him, wondering if Sara was alright. Telling him that the teenager had looked rather distraught this morning and left without eating anything or spending any time with Thea as she usually did whenever she spent the night. He had ensured his mom that Sara was fine, that she probably just forgot to let her parents know that she would crash at their place, which would’ve let to her dad being pissed because he had worried.

It was bullshit, of course. Sara always let her dad know when she wasn’t coming home. Ever since that one time that she forgot and Quentin gathered a freaking search party. But his mom seemed to be satisfied with the answer, so he left to go to his room.

Fuck!

Maybe he shouldn’t have just left? Shouldn’t have breathed a sigh of relief when Tommy texted him, insisting they hang out today, just the two of them. It had given him the perfect excuse to leave before Sara woke up. Because he hadn’t known what to do or say. He still didn’t but… maybe this had not been the best course of action.

Fuck! He didn’t mean to hurt her.

He dropped his head in his hands and swore and stayed like this for several minutes before he got his cell phone out and searched for Sara’s contact. He had another debate with himself before finally pressing on the call button.

Listening to the ringing, waiting for Sara to pick up. Which she didn’t.

He felt a pang in his heart and some worry… which was ridiculous. She was probably just busy.

So, he tried again, and again, and again… over the course of several hours with no result. Sara wasn’t answering her phone.

Or to be more specific, his calls.

The pang he had felt after the first try had turned into a full-blown ache and the worry into fear.

So, he decided to text her as a last ditch effort. Hoping he hadn’t just fucked everything up even more.

Hoping that his actions following last night had not just ruined their friendship.

Praying that he hadn’t just lost his Pretty Bird because he hadn’t known how to face her. What to say.

He stared at a picture of her on his phone, anxiously waiting for her reply. 

All the while deathly afraid that she wouldn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like he would've bailed. I hope you guys agree. I just can't really see pre-Gambit Oliver facing Sara after that.
> 
> Plus for clarification the idiot is feeling shame and sort of falling in love... yet not willing to even consider that possibility.
> 
> Chapter titel is from the song 'TGIF' by Katy Perry.


	7. Laughing so damn hard crashed your dad's car all the trouble we got into we got something you can't undo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here goes nothing. She really hoped that this was going to work and she could distract the security guard long enough for Ollie to destroy the evidence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been working on this for longr than I care to admit lol. I hope you guys like it.
> 
> Okay, I don't know what's going on but AO3 does some weird stuff with my chapter uploads lately... so I'm sorry if it looks weird or words or sentences seem to have disappeared... no clue what's going on here.

Oliver

“Oh, wow, you boys are so screwed!”

Both he and Tommy turned startled towards the voice, to find no other than fifteen-year-old Sara Lance standing right behind them, studying the damage the two of them had caused.

“What are you doing here, Tweety?” Oliver looked at the small blonde expectantly. They could have no one see them. This was bad.

“It’s Thursday… I just had my riding lesson…” she rolled her clear blue eyes slightly annoyed and looked at them as if they were stupid, which Ollie had to admit, was justified right now, she was wearing her Jodhpurs, Paddock boots and holding her riding gloves in one hand, her face was flushed, and her hair pulled back into a ponytail. So, it was pretty obvious what she had been doing.

“But seriously, wow, I mean… wow… you guys really fucked up this time. Mr. Merlyn is going to kill you!” Sara switched back to their original topic of discussion, her voice being a mixture of amusement, awe and pity.

“Maybe he won’t notice?” Tommy tried, looking and sounding as unconvincingly as his suggestion was. There was no way that his dad wouldn’t notice the damage that they had done. Sara was right, they were fucked.

“What? You don’t seriously believe that your dad won’t notice the huge dent and ruined paint job, his very expensive, classic car, that he loves and told you boys frequently to keep your hands off, is now spotting thanks to you two idiots? Yeah, right. Keep dreaming, Tommy.” Sara rolled her expressive eyes again, but this time in exasperation and disbelieve.

“We could leave it at some remote location, so he’ll think it was stolen and abandoned.” Ollie thought his plan was pretty solid and was proud he came up with it on such short notice but Sara just looked at him as if he were stupid… again. 

“So… the carjacker was smart enough to break into the Merlyn Estate, get into the locked Garage, drove Mr. Merlyn’s very expensive favorite car out of the garage and the Estate without being seen and then he dents and scratches it and just abandon’s it. A car that’s worth a couple of hundred grands because of a dent and some missing paint job?! No one’s going to buy that, boys. You’d be better off driving it off of a cliff into the ocean, hoping no one will find it. Then maybe, and only maybe, someone might buy the stolen car angle. Except, doesn’t your dad have surveillance cameras, Tommy?” She turned towards Tommy, looking at him expectantly. He and Tommy looked at each other, their eyes widening in horrified realization.

Sara was right, they were fucked.

How could they’ve forgotten about the stupid cameras Tommy’s dad had installed after the last time they had taken the car for a joyride? Damn!

What were the chances that they would get away scotch free again? Like they did the last three times, well mostly, after they got severely yelled at by Malcolm for a very long time. Fuck!

“Jesus, how did you guys manage that? Where the hell did you drive into?” Sara was meticulously inspecting the damage to the car now. 

“Look it doesn’t matter, Tweety. We just need to get it fixed before Malcolm finds out. And everything will be cool.” Oliver really didn’t feel like sharing the exact events that had led to the car’s current state with Sara, she would never ever, ever let them live it down, not after all the jokes they’ve been making for months about her and driving and even less now after they’ve been making fun of her first attempt at driving for the past couple of weeks.

“Sara’s right, Ollie, dad’s going to kill us. There’s no way we get the car fixed before he notices that it’s gone and checks the cameras. We’re done for!” Tommy was close to panicking now, not that it was surprising or uncalled for. Malcolm had been extremely mad the last time they had hot-wired his car and taken it for a joyride. There had been some threats about serious consequences should they ever do it again. Which they now had. Only they didn’t just hot-wire the car, they actually nearly totaled it, sort of. Which was only partly their fault. But Oliver was sure Malcolm wouldn’t care about that. Wouldn’t care about the story and what had happened and why it wasn’t their fault. They took the car, not only without his permission but despite his prohibition. They were fucked. Tommy would get in enormous trouble.

Oliver turned back to face Sara again. Given the way she was looking at him, he knew that she had come to the same conclusion as him. Fuck!

How could they get Tommy out of this? It would be easy to tell him to leave and let him and maybe Sara take the blame for it, if only the stupid cameras hadn’t been there.

“What if we erase the recording?” Sara’s words took him by complete surprise.

“What?”

“The recordings from the cameras, what if we erase or delete them before Mr. Merlyn can see them? That way we can tell him you and I did it and Tommy’s not gonna get in trouble.” God, he could kiss her! That was fucking genius!

“That is genius, Birdy. Tommy, where does your dad keep them?” He pulled Sara into a quick hug before turning towards his best friend.

“In the office of the security guard. They always pull it from whatever and put the recordings in the safe at the end of the week. But he’s not just going to let you mess with the computer, Ollie.” Tommy explained.

“So, I’ll distract him while Ollie deletes the file. No, big.” The only female in their round was quick to ensure their friend.

All they needed to do now was give Tommy an alibi and get Sara and him to Tommy’s house, piece of cake, right?

\--------‐----------------------------------------------------------

Sara

They were dead, they were so dead. Tommy’s dad was going to kill them for sure. There was no way that they could get passed the gate, and the garage, into the house to the head security’s office. Except if Tommy was right and Mr. Merlyn was still at the office. Then maybe… but Tommy’s dad was known for only hiring the best of the best when it came to security, ever since Tommy’s mom had been killed, at least according to her parents. It was one thing for Ollie and Tommy to walk around the grounds undetected, or at least their actions going undetected. It was something else entirely for Ollie and her to be here without Tommy. People would notice, for sure. Maybe this wasn’t her best idea, maybe this was a very stupid idea. But it was the only way to make sure that Tommy wasn’t going to get into some serious trouble. Mr. Merlyn could get really scary when he got mad. She didn’t want to think about what punishment Tommy would get if he got caught. So there really was no choice, she and Ollie needed to get that recording erased.

“C’mon, Tweety, this way, stay low.” Ollie grabbed her hand and tugged her in the direction he wanted them to go, crutching low and trying to keep her slight frame hidden behind his massive shape. Sara desperately tried to ignore the tingling feeling in her hand and the butterflies in her stomach that had been caused by Ollie taking her hand.

No, this had nothing to do with Ollie, she was just nervous and anxious because they could very easily get caught. Which would be fine, if they got caught after they erased the evidence of Ollie and Tommy’s crime but really bad if they did before they had managed to do what they came here for.

Ollie dragged her to the side entrance and they slipped inside, hopefully undetected. They made sure that no one was inside or close by and quietly ran down the corridor towards the door Tommy had told them about.

“Okay, Tweety, here we go. Show time. Do your thing.” He squeezed her hand encouragingly and gave her a slight push.

Here goes nothing. She really hoped that this was going to work and she could distract the security guard long enough for Ollie to destroy the evidence.

\--------‐----------------------------------------------------------

It had worked! Sara still couldn’t believe that it had actually worked. They had distracted the guard, Ollie had destroyed the recordings and they were now safely outside and away from the Merlyn estate.

She took a deep breath and started to laugh in disbelieve. It had worked! They had gotten away with it! She couldn’t believe the rush she had and was still feeling. That was a high better than any rollercoaster she had ever been on! Damn! That had been… wow! She spun around and turned towards her partner in crime, still laughing. 

Ollie looked about as relieved as she felt, he was grinning from ear to ear and his face was flushed, yet his eyes were sparkling with excitement, was it possible he was feeling the same way she did?

“You were fucking brilliant, Pretty Bird! I could just kiss you!”

Sara’s mind was still occupied with Ollie calling her Pretty Bird instead of the usual Tweety Bird and the insinuation that he thought she was pretty when Oliver bent down and just planted a quick kiss on her lips, which led to her eyes growing big, but she had no time to process any of this because he was already pulling her into his arms and spinning them around for a moment before he put her back down on her feet. Grinning at her excitedly.

“C’mon, I’ll take you to Patty Shack’s, you’ve earned it!” He took hold of her hand again and tugged her along again until they reached his car, where he let go of her hand to get inside.

\--------‐----------------------------------------------------------

They ended up being fucked after all.

Tommy’s dad had of course figured out what had happened and told both Ollie’s and her parents. So they were all grounded, for the whole summer!

Ollie for like the first time ever. 

The poor guy didn't understand the world anymore. His actions never had any kind of severe consequences. Going from never getting punished to being grounded for a whole summer was way harsh, if you'd ask her. Poor Ollie!

This was insane!

Even though her parents showed some leniency and told her that they were still going to go on their road trip. But her dad had also told her that he and her mom would think about how much leniency and freedom she was going to get during their trip. Which sucked, but she was sure she could pout or plead her way out of any possible punishment her dad wanted to bestow upon her during their road trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to put one thing straight, Ollie's actions weren't in any shape or form romantically meant at all. It was just the adrenaline and Ollie being Ollie, a loveable idiot who doesn't know what he's doing most of the time. It was a friendly gesture and just an innocent peck that he pretty much forgot about 5 minutes later.
> 
> Sara is not yet aware of the crush she's developping towards one of her best friends.
> 
> Let me know what you think.
> 
> Chapter titel is from the song 'Oath' by Cher Lloyed.


	8. She's just far better than me so don't bother I'm tired of this triangle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Aren’t you supposed to be in dance class?” He realized the almost accusatory note in his voice too late and Sara was already looking at him in a unique mix of bewilderment, anger and, what he was pretty sure was, hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't written anything in my pre-Gambit universe in a while and I missed those two idiots so here you go... it's short and not my best work but it's something. I felt like writing but was way busier this week than expected. So this is all I managed so far.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it.

Oliver

Oliver stepped through the Lance’s entrance door, just to be greeted by the sight of Sara turning towards him.  
  
The next thing he knew Sara was in his arms, one of her hands holding on to his neck and the other one around his bicep while they were passionately kissing. This was not what he had expected. Sara was not what he had expected. Not that he minded the greeting or the blonde’s presence, but he was actually here because he thought Laurel was home and he wanted to surprise her.  
  
So this was a very unexpected turn of events. But then again, everything since the younger Lance sister’s nineteenth birthday was an unexpected event.  
  
Her birthday, or more accurately the night leading up to her birthday, had been when everything had changed between them, at least in a way. It had been the first time since the start of their physical involvement that they had been neither drunk nor high.  
  
It had been the first time that they had no excuse as to what they were doing.  
  
Before that, they always did. No matter how lame it was. They could blame it on the alcohol or the drugs.

But not anymore.  
  
And definitely not right now. Which brought him back to the present and the question of why Sara was home and Laurel wasn’t.  
  
Wasn’t Sara supposed to be in dance class?  
  
And Laurel should be home, according to Tommy, who had run into her earlier today.  
  
Where was the rest of the Lance family?  
  
“Mom and dad took Laurel out to dinner, to celebrate her latest academic achievement. I happily passed.” Sara answered his questions before he could ask them once they came up for air for good after quite some time.  
  
“Aren’t you supposed to be in dance class?” He realized the almost accusatory note in his voice too late and Sara was already looking at him in a unique mix of bewilderment, anger and, what he was pretty sure was, hurt.  
  
“Sorry for disappointing you with my presence. It was cancelled this week, not that I told my parents that, I was glad to have an excuse to not go to dinner and listen to how proud they are of Laurel...” She pushed herself away from him and took a couple of steps back before turning around and leaving the room and him, leaving him standing there with suddenly empty arms, looking like an idiot.

Still trying to figure out what exactly happened.  
  
“Laurel should be back in two to three hours. Feel free to let yourself out.” She called out while looking at him over her shoulder before turning back around and climbing the stairs.  
  
“Sara... wait! I didn’t... that’s not... I didn’t mean for it to sound the way it did. I just thought Laurel was here and didn’t expect you to be home...” He tried to explain and get out of the situation he somehow managed to get himself into but it didn’t take him long to once again realize that his choice in words might not have been the best. He hated how Sara somehow managed to do that. How she turned him into a babbling idiot, who was incapable of smooth-talking or lying to her.  
  
“Fuck you, Oliver! I’m sorry you came here looking for Laurel and all you got was the disappointment that is me.” Sara whirled around on the stairs, glaring daggers at him. Oliver, she had just called him Oliver. She never called him by his full name, not unless she wanted to make a point or was really mad.  
  
“That’s not... dammit! You know I didn’t mean it like that, Pretty Bird.” He tried to get out of the hot seat by using the endearment, a tactic that usually worked.

“Don’t you Pretty Bird me, Oliver Jonas! And what are you still doing here? I’m obviously not who you’re here to see and perfect Laurel is not here, so get the hell out and leave me the fuck alone! I’m so fucking tired of this shit! I’m not just… fuck! Just go.” Sara’s anger lost steam towards the end and turned into something else entirely, when she swallowed hard and bit her lip, before turning back around and climbing the rest of the stairs. He watched her disappear down the hall and listened to the sound of her bedroom door closing behind her.

He was still standing at the bottom of the stairs, feeling like a heel not knowing what he was supposed to do.

Should he leave like she asked him to?

Should he follow her and try to fix what he just fucked up?

Should he wait here until she calmed down?

He didn’t know.

He always knew what to do when he fucked up with Laurel. It was simple, always the same song and dance. He apologized, bought her some flowers and jewellery, maybe some chocolates, took her out to a nice dinner,… easy, simple, almost routine by now.

But Sara, Sara was an entirely different story.

The one time he had bought her a beautiful, very expensive bouquet to apologize, she threw the flowers back in his face, telling him he must be confused which Lance he was dealing with and he could go fuck himself if he thought buying her useless stuff would make things right.

Oliver contemplated for another minute before climbing the stairs himself, walking down the corridor and stopping in front of Sara’s closed door. Wondering whether he should knock or just walk in. He decided to just walk in and avoid another “fuck you” from her side of the door.

“Sara. Look. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything the way it came out. You know that. You know I’m always happy to see you and spend time with you. C’mon Pretty Bird, please forgive me.” Words, she valued honesty, he hoped it worked.

“I’m just so sick and tired of always being compared to Laurel and coming up lacking. I’m not her, Ollie. I’ll never be her, I can’t be her. If that’s who you’re looking for, if you come to me because you miss her… stop. I’m not your answer. I can’t be a stand in for Laurel, because I can’t be Laurel.” The blonde had sat up on her bed and was looking straight at him, he could see the traces of the tears that she must have cried in the time it took him to decide to come after her and boy was he glad he did.

“That’s not… Sara. I’m not with you because Laurel’s away at college to have you as a stand in. I’m with you because you are you. And I like being with you. I like your company. Me being with you has nothing to do with Laurel at all. And I don’t think that you’re lacking anything at all. You’re perfect the way you are. My Pretty Bird.” He couldn’t believe that she thought that. How could she think that? They’ve known each other for fourteen years, they’ve been friends for fourteen years. Why would she think like that? Did he give her that impression? Did he make her feel like she needed to be more like Laurel?

The fact that Sara was so very different from Laurel was the reason he was drawn to her. He could be himself with her. She didn’t expect anything from him. She didn’t expect him to be anything but himself. And that was why he kept on coming back to her. Why he just couldn’t quit her. No matter how often he tried.

He was an addict and she was his drug.

He had moved towards her bed and sat down next to her during his speech. He lifted his hand to brush some of her hair behind her ear, before placing it on her cheek. Watching her intently and noticing when she glanced at her lap for a moment and bit her lip again.

“Sara…” he cleared his throat when he noticed the lump in it that kept him from finishing the sentence he had started, realizing that he had no idea what he was going to say besides her name. He focused on watching her face, trying to gather his thoughts when Sara suddenly raised her eyes again and looked him straight in his. It only took a second before his lips were on hers and they were kissing softly. They parted just to look at each other again.

“Sara…” this time he never got to finish because the woman in question grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him towards her, crushing her lips to his in a passionate kiss. Moving backwards on her bed, all the while holding on to his shirt to ensure that he was following her. She let go of the front just to grip the hem and pull it over his head. Before kissing him again.

Oliver took hold of her tights and pulled her into his lap doing with her shirt what she had done with his…

The two blondes were sitting in the living room watching TV as if nothing had happened by the time the rest of the Lance family returned home from dinner. Sara excused herself shortly thereafter going to her room while Laurel happily took over her sister’s place on the couch next to him. Oliver had to concentrate really hard to keep himself from staring after Sara and watching her walk away.

He put a smile on his face and reminded himself that the reason he had come here was to see and spend time with Laurel, which was what he ended up doing until Laurel’s dad kicked him out, telling him it was late and that he should get home.


	9. You make me so happy, it turns back to sad, you are what I can’t have

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This had been a good night, a good start to the new year of her life. Nineteen was going to be a good year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for deleting it, I wasn't happy with it and made some changes...
> 
> Please don't hate me...

**Sara**

  
Sara wasn’t sure what, but something was different tonight, Ollie was different tonight... had been from the moment he had picked her up a block from her house at 10pm. And she was pretty sure it wasn’t just because they were sober for once. The way he was touching her, the way he was kissing her... both were lacking their usual urgency, the raw passion and desperate need to fuck. He had been very sweet. There had also been numerous small touches on their drive to his home. His parents were at a Christmas Eve Fundraiser and the Queens traditionally gave the entire staff the night before Christmas off, which was why they took Thea with them to the event. She had no clue how Ollie had managed to get out of going to the Fundraiser and watching Thea, but he had somehow. Obviously.

They just drove around for a while, listening to music and enjoying each other’s company. She had missed him. College had been crazy and Ollie had been busy too, his parents and Laurel filling his schedule with things he should do and yet more Colleges they wanted him to apply to, since he had dropped out of yet another one. Sara mused, how many more it would take for them to get that he was not interested in a College education?

It was after they finally decided to head to the Mansion and they, well; she had made them both some hot cocoa that they went up to his room and ended up sitting on his bed, both of their mugs discarded on his nightstand. It was here that she once again noticed Ollie’s unusual behavior towards her.  
  
The way his hand was softly touching her cheek, his other one brushing some of her hair behind her ear, the way he was just staring at her and that look in his eyes, ... she couldn’t place the look in his eyes but it gave her a warm feeling and... she wasn’t sure... Ollie slowly moved his head towards hers, until his lips, finally, and softly, oh so softly touched hers, her eyes closed on their own accord the same way her lips returned his kiss, forgetting her train of thoughts. Before she could spend anymore time trying to analyze those new, unknown feelings Ollie’s unusual behavior provoked.  
  
“Happiest of Birthdays, my Pretty Bird.” The words were whispered, once they separated to catch their breaths, just for Ollie to kiss her again, the same way as before, and she could feel her stomach do a somersault when the possessive pronoun he had used registered in her brain.  
  
“I got you something.” He got up from his bed and walked into his closet, disappearing inside. It was just passed midnight, she realized when she caught sight of the clock on Ollie’s bedside table. Only to reappear seconds later with a small, beautifully wrapped little present in his hand.  
  
Sara opened the present, wondering what he got her. Inside was a very pretty leather box. She slowly lifted off the lid, her eyes opening wide when she saw the beautiful bracelet inside. Two thin, light brown leather bands decorated with a silver bow, on which were five, what she was sure were genuine diamonds. She carefully touched and traced the delicate looking jewellery.

It was breath-taking... it was too much! Way too much.  
  
“Ollie..” she looked up from the bracelet just to see his grinning face, his eyes were sparkling in excitement.  
  
“So, I take it you like it, given the amazed look on your face.” His grin got even bigger if possible.  
  
“It’s too much... this must have cost you a fortune.” Of course she liked it, that wasn’t the point. She knew how stupid that argument was, she was talking to a guy who had bought an apartment in London on a whim a couple of months ago, and had yet to travel there.  
  
“Nah, don’t worry about it. Do you like it? That’s all that matters. It’s more than worth it if you do and we can go and you can have it changed or pick something else if you don’t. You’re worth it and you deserve to have something that’s almost as pretty as you are, Tweety Bird.” He put his hand on her knee, softly rubbing it with his thumb.  
  
“I love it. Thank you! But people will ask questions...” she tried again to reason with him and to explain why she couldn’t possibly accept it. People would wonder how a detective's daughter with a college professor as mother could afford a piece of jewellery like this. Her family would ask questions too. And while both Ollie and Tommy were known to give her and Laurel expensive presents, they had never gotten her jewellery before. Ollie frequently bought Laurel jewellery. As her dad pointed out, jewellery was for girlfriends, wives and daughters. 

They would wonder about this.  
  
“Since when do you care what people think, Lance? Just tell them whatever. C’mon lets put it on and see how it looks.” He took the bracelet out of the box and carefully wrapped it around her left wrist, closing the delicate clasp with surprising ease.  
  
“Perfect fit.” He smiled at her before bending forward and once again softly kissing her lips.  
  
She looked at her wrist. And he was right. It was a perfect fit, and it looked gorgeous.  
  
“Thank you, Ollie.” Sara smiled at him softly. Still unsure about it, but it looked so pretty and felt so nice against her skin. And Ollie seemed genuinely happy and excited about her liking his present. So she copied his earlier actions and kissed him tenderly, before deepening it, sliding her hands from his cheeks down to his shoulders in order to pull herself onto the bed without breaking contact and moving on to straddle his tights as a first step to show him just how much she appreciated his gift.  
  
It wasn’t long until the bracelet was the only thing she was and would be wearing until they snuck out of the Queen Mansion in the early hours of Christmas morning, so Ollie could drive her back home and she could sneak into her room before her parents woke up and noticed her absence.  
  
Ollie parked a block from her house, and they shared another deep kiss in his car.  
  
“Thank you again for the present and the very pleasant start into my birthday.” She smiled at him, her hand adorned with his bracelet on her wrist, stroking his cheek.  
  
“You are very welcome, my Pretty Bird. I’ll see you tonight.” He gave her another tender kiss before she got out of the car and walked towards her house.  
  
His.  
  
He had called her his. Again.  
  
A part of her strongly rebelled against the implication that she could ever belong to anyone, as if she were property that could be owned... except it was Ollie who said it and she knew that wasn’t how he meant it. She knew he would never consider her a piece of property, someone he could own. He would never try to cage her, his, HIS!, Pretty Bird.  
  
Besides... he wasn’t wrong, she was his, had been for far longer than she liked to admit and long before he ever even realized it.  
  
So, if he called her his, did this mean he was hers too?  
  
But how could he be when he was Laurel’s, and everyone knew it? The whole damn world knew that he belonged to Laurel. Her sister also always made sure to stake her claim whenever she was around Ollie, ensuring that there was no doubt in anyone’s mind who the handsome Queen heir belonged to.  
  
It made her sick and pissed her off in equal parts. She rather focused on the anger and pretended the stabbing pain she felt whenever she saw them together didn’t exist. It was easier to focus on the anger she felt towards her sister, anger that she didn’t realize what she was doing to Ollie, that she was doing the same thing his parents did. Pressure him into being someone he wasn’t, into a life he didn’t want. Never realizing how lucky she was, and how amazing a person the real Oliver actually was.  
  
Laurel was suffocating him with her plans and expectations.  
  
And she was too blind to see it.  
  
Too focused on the fantasy she had created to see the man in front of her. Laurel didn’t know Ollie, not like she did. But that didn’t matter because Laurel was everything Robert and especially Moira wanted for their son. Something she was never going to be able to be. Someone she couldn’t measure up to. Someone she was never going to measure up to. She would never fit into the Queen family the way Laurel did.  
  
Sara climbed into her window and changed into her pajamas. Forcing the dark and depressing thoughts from her mind while getting into bed. This had been a good night. No need to ruin it with dark thoughts. She’ll have plenty of time for those tonight, at the Queen’s annual Christmas party, where she’ll have to spend the evening watching Laurel attached to Ollie… hopefully Tommy would be in the mood to sneak away with her and some booze…  
  
She touched the bracelet on her arm and still couldn’t believe that Ollie had gotten it for her. She tried to get comfortable in bed when the screen on her cell suddenly lit up. She grabbed it and checked to see who had texted her. Only to end up with a gigantic smile on her face.  
  
 _‘Sweetest of dreams, my Pretty Bird… miss you already, can’t wait to see you tonight.’_  
  
This had been a good night, a good start to the new year of her life. Nineteen was going to be a good year.

Ollie was missing her already!

He had only left maybe an hour ago. Sara closed her eyes, still smiling, holding on to her bracelet and falling asleep, happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Sara is wearing a bracelet during the flashbacks in Heir to the Demon, I unfortunately didn't find a screencap that showed it clearly so I was sort of going by what I could make out. In my version of their past, it has real diamonds on it and Ollie gave it to her for her 19th birthday.
> 
> And before anyone says anything, it's Sara's point of view... which means this is how she sees things and they may or may not be true... we'll get to that eventually, I think... I promised some Laurel and Tommy and I plan on delivering on that... but I'm currently stuck on these two idiots while I'm trying to figure out their affair...


	10. Tonight I'll dream while I'm in bed I can tell that we are gonna be friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “My mom calls me sweetheart sometimes, or ‘my beautiful boy’…” he shared with her not sure why he had told her about the second one, he didn’t like it when his mom called him that, boys weren’t beautiful, girls were according to Thomas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This just sort of happened... I had an idea and ran with it. I did make some small changes in Chapter Four but nothing significant and these are just one shots but still, they sort of all play in the same Universe so I wanted to make sure that it fits.

**Oliver**

It was only the second time that Oliver was at Laurel’s house. She and her mom had told him to go ahead into the house and to the kitchen while they took care of something in the garage. He quietly, and a little unsure, did what they told him to. He walked down the short corridor after taking off his shoes and stopped before walking inside, watching the scene he encountered. Laurel’s little sister, Sara, was sitting on the kitchen counter, her little legs dangling over the side, and she was swinging them wildly, munching on a piece of carrot while looking out the window into the backyard. There were different vegetables, and pasta and pots and all kinds of things all over the surfaces of the kitchen, laid out to be used for whatever meal they were preparing.   
  
“Hi Ollie” Oliver looked confused for a moment until he realized that the little blonde meant him. She was no longer looking out the window but right at him, waving with the hand that was not holding the carrot.   
  
“It’s Oliver.” He corrected Laurel’s baby sister.  
  
“No, it’s Ollie, Oliver’s a silly name and too long.” Sara was grinning at him mischievously, wrinkling her nose in amusement, and there was an impish sparkle in her sky-blue eyes.

“Oliver is not a long name.” Disagreeing and defending his name was a natural reaction to the little imp’s claim.  
  
“Yeaha, it is. Sa-Ra, that’s not long. And Lau-Lau, that’s not long too. But Oh-lih-iv-her. That is so long.” She exaggerated by drawing out each syllable of his name and stretching her arms all the way apart to show him how long his name supposedly was.  
  
“But Ol-lie, that’s short too. Do you want one?” She declared before taking another bite of her carrot and picking another piece up from the bowl next to her, holding it towards him.  
  
“But my name is Oliver. How would you like it if I called you something that’s not Sara? Isn’t that going to spoil your dinner?” He wanted to know, sure that she wouldn’t like it either if he would call her something else but Sara, and wondered at the last part, he wasn’t allowed to have anything to eat this close to dinner at home.  
  
“Good. My mommy, and daddy, and Laulau call me Sar-Bear sometimes. It means they love me so much that they gave me a special name only they call me. Don’t your mommy and daddy have a special name for you?” the four-year-old was smiling at him, looking a little confused, while she explained to him, what she seemed to consider a fact of life, given the sound of her voice.  
  
“My mom calls me sweetheart sometimes, or ‘my beautiful boy’…” he shared with her not sure why he had told her about the second one, he didn’t like it when his mom called him that, boys weren’t beautiful, girls were according to Thomas.  
  
“Well, sweetheart is not a special name, all mommies and daddies call their children sweetheart. And I’m not calling you beautiful boy, that’s longer than Oliver and more silly too! Your mommy’s silly, Ollie!” She laughed at him, shaking her head in exaggeration. It took her a moment to calm down and catch her breath before she answered his question concerning the food.  
  
“No, silly Ollie, veggies and fruit and berries is something that you’re always allowed to eat if you’re hungry, even before lunch or dinner. Everybody knows that.” She was looking at him again as if what she was saying was the most obvious thing in the world and she couldn’t understand why he didn’t know that.  
  
“No, I’m not allowed to eat anything before lunch or dinner, because it’ll spoil my appetite and I won’t be hungry anymore. And it wouldn’t look good if I didn’t eat anything at the dinner table. And make people wonder.” He explained what his parents had told him to the younger girl.  
  
“Mommy says, better I spoil my dinner with veggies, than ruin their night with a low blood sugar tantrum… I get in a lot of timeouts when the sugar in my blood is low. I don’t know what that means, it’s what my mommy says and why I get to eat whenever I’m hungry.” Sara shrugged her shoulders while repeating what her mother had told her with a thoughtful look on her freckled face. And Oliver remembered the last time he had been at Laurel’s and Sara had had to spend time in her room all by herself in what he now knew was a timeout. He also remembered how Laurel’s mom had talked about Sara needing a snack and saying something about blood sugar and Sara being easier to handle after she had eaten. He stepped closer to the counter and the blonde and slowly and carefully took the offered piece of carrot from her, looking around to see if anyone had come in and would see them. He felt unsure about this. He looked from the carrot in his hand back to Sara, who was happily munching away, looking out the window again. He took a small bite from the carrot and waited for a moment to see what would happen before starting to chew when nothing happened.  
  
“Daddy, can Ollie help us make the sauce?” Oliver flinched at the excited voice that ripped him from his thoughts. And he saw Mr. Detective Laurel’s dad walk into the kitchen from the door to the backyard. His eyes got wide when he realized that he’d get caught eating before dinner, and he tried to hide the small piece of carrot in his hand.  
  
“If he wants to, baby. But I think Oliver is here to play with your sister, and that is okay and something we will have to accept. Baby, did you eat almost all the carrots I cut? Have you at least shared some with Oliver?” Oliver’s eyes got even bigger when Laurel’s dad started talking, afraid that they’d get in trouble. Until he registered the last question that the older man asked his daughter. That just confused him.  
  
“Yeah, daddy I shared with Ollie.” Sara sounded a little annoyed and he saw her roll her eyes.  
  
“You better be telling the truth, Sara.” Her dad sounded very stern when he said that, and Oliver wondered why. And why he didn’t believe Sara when she told him she had shared with him.  
  
“I did! Right, Ollie? I shared with you.” The little girl turned towards him asking for his confirmation, looking at him expectantly.  
  
“Yeah, Mr. Detective, Sara offered and shared the carrots with me.” He straightened his back and held his head up high, the way his parents always told him to. And he made sure to speak clearly and properly. And to sound sure and certain, leaving no room to question his statement. Just like his dad taught him.  
  
“Well, I’ll be damned, she must like you, Oliver. Sara never shares her food without anyone making her.” That surprised Oliver. She didn’t know him. This was only the second time they’ve met.  
  
“I’m calling silly name Ollie now daddy.” Sara just told her father matter of fact, out of the blue and kept Oliver from replying to her dad.  
  
“Well, baby, have you asked him if that’s alright with him? Maybe he doesn’t want to be called Ollie.” Her father looked at the little girl sternly and Oliver wasn’t sure how to feel about them talking about him as if he weren’t there.  
  
“Why? He doesn’t have a special name yet, daddy. So I gave him one. Everybody needs to have a special name to make them feel happy and put a great big smile on that face of yours. Like Sar-bear makes me.” Sara’s answer surprised the seven-year-old. Sara wanted to make him smile and feel happy? She wanted him to have a special name that only people that loved him called him? The girl on the counter in front of him was so different to the one he first met a couple of weeks ago.  
  
“So, Ollie, you want to help daddy and me make the sauce?” Her question ripped him from his thoughts and she was once again looking at him expectantly with those big blue eyes of hers.  
  
“Ah, I don’t know... I never made sauce before... and I don’t know what Laurel wants to do.” He was really unsure, and he felt insecure about this and the situation he was in. And he knew it was showing, and he was not behaving the way his parents had taught him to.

  
“That’s alright Oliver, we can show you how to make sauce if you want to and Laurel can help too, there’s plenty to do.” Mr. Detective Laurel’s dad reassured him.

In the end Oliver and Laurel’s entire family made dinner together, and it was a lot of fun. And the food was fantastic. Afterwards they played games together, Laurel and Sara and their mom and dad too! That was one of the best evenings and most fun he’s ever had. He couldn’t wait to tell his mom and Raisa and Thomas the next time he saw him.

And when Laurel’s mom told them to say goodbye because it was time for her to drive him home and agreed that Laurel could come with them but told Sara she needed to stay home and get ready for bed, which led to another fight between the sisters and a lot of protest that ended up in a full-blown tantrum from the four-year-old when her parents still didn’t budge and insisted she stay back home. He was surprised when Sara interrupted her tantrum long enough to run towards, and barrel right into him, with surprising strengths, giving him a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek, telling him to come back soon and to not forget that he had a special name now too, just like she did.   
  
Oliver recalled little Sara’s words that night when he was lying in his bed. ‘Ollie’ she had called him ‘Ollie’ and he could feel himself smile and there was a warm feeling in his chest. He snuggled into his comforter and closed his eyes. Falling asleep with a smile on his face, feeling happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was cooking dinner when I had the idea that Sara was the first person to call Oliver 'Ollie'. I can't picture either Robert or Moira coming up with the nickname and in Arrow Sara is the only one who almost always calls him Ollie. Everyone else sort of calls him both Oliver and Ollie, but Sara consistently calls him Ollie through all Seasons of Arrow... and given how little consistency the show has, it's huge. So I rolled with it and it is now my canon that Sara gave Oliver his nickname.
> 
> Let me know what you think.


End file.
